Archetypes vs. Personas

Summary: Personas and archetypes are different ways of communicating the same user research data. Archetypes describe categories of users; personas humanize those categories to illustrate real impact.

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Archetypes vs. Personas

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Personas vs. Archetypes

Archetypes and personas used for UX work contain similar insights, are based on similar kinds of data, and differ mainly in presentation. Personas are presented as a single human character, whereas archetypes are not tied to specific names or faces.

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Therese Fessenden is a Senior Experience Specialist with Nielsen Norman Group and host of the NN/g UX Podcast. Her research focuses on understanding human behavior, attitudes, and expectations in order to better orchestrate system and service design strategies. 

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